Hiroki Kuroda seriously considered retirement this offseason, but Andy Pettitte and Mariano Rivera helped talk him into pitching in 2014.
"With Andy and Mariano gone, I'm still a year younger than Andy and a few years younger than Mariano," Kuroda said through his interpreter. "That sort of pushed me to probably go for one more year."
Kuroda turned 39 in February and was inspired by Pettitte, who gave the Yankees 185 1/3 innings as a 41-year-old last season.
"It was encouraging for me to see a pitcher who's older than me to go out there and pitch in a rotation for a whole season," Kuroda said. "Now that he's gone, I'm really surprised. His presence was really big for me."
Via Bryan Hoch/MLB